Server-initiated bandwidth conservation policies

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a social networking system maintains a moving average of the number of connection problems, including socket timeouts and failed uploads, per client in a geographic area to determine whether the wireless data network serving the geographic area is overloaded. In response to detecting a network overload, the social networking system may transmit an instruction to the clients in the particular geographic area to enter one of a plurality of traffic throttling modes. In particular embodiments, the social networking system maintains a historical log of network overload conditions, and uses the historical log to generate an estimate of the wireless network capacity serving a geographic area. Thus, the social networking system may preemptively transmit instructions to clients to enter a bandwidth-conservation mode when the estimated traffic demand exceeds the estimated capacity for a particular geographic region.

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/328,726, filed 11 Jul. 2014, which is acontinuation under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/210,953, filed 16 Aug. 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,812,661 which isincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to social networking and mobiledevices and, in particular embodiments, to detecting, via a serverdevice, whether clients in a particular geographic region areoverloading the wireless cellular data network serving the region, andissuing an instruction to the clients in the particular region tothrottle their upstream traffic to the social networking system.

BACKGROUND

A social networking system, such as a social networking website, enablesits users to interact with it and with each other through the system.The social networking system may create and store a record, oftenreferred to as a user profile, in connection with the user. The userprofile may include a user's demographic information, communicationchannel information, and personal interest. The social networking systemmay also create and store a record of a user's relationship with otherusers in the social networking system (e.g., social graph), as well asprovide services (e.g., wall-posts, photo-sharing, or instant messaging)to facilitate social interaction between users in the social networkingsystem. The social networking system may generate a webpage, or anewsfeed, for a particular user, comprising the recent activities of theuser's first-degree connections on the social network. Users utilizingmobile devices having data connections to the social networking systemmay upload photos or perform actions remotely that appear on his or hernews feed when the content is completely uploaded to the socialnetworking system.

SUMMARY

Particular embodiments relate to a social networking system thatincludes features directed detecting via one or more servers of thesocial networking system whether clients in a particular geographicregion are or will overload the wireless cellular data network servicingthe geographic region, and transmitting an instruction to the clients inthe geographic region to throttle their own upstream traffic to thesocial networking system. In particular embodiments, throttling trafficmay comprise queuing content for transmission to the social networkingsystem on the client-side device. These and other features, aspects, andadvantages of the disclosure are described in more detail below in thedetailed description and in conjunction with the following figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example social networking system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example server architecture for detecting anoverloaded wireless network.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method for detecting an overloadedwireless network in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method of preemptively issuing athrottling instruction in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example computing system.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example mobile device platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is now described in detail with reference to a fewembodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forth in orderto provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It isapparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the presentdisclosure may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In other instances, well known process steps and/or structureshave not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscurethe present disclosure. In addition, while the disclosure is describedin conjunction with the particular embodiments, it should be understoodthat this description is not intended to limit the disclosure to thedescribed embodiments. To the contrary, the description is intended tocover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be includedwithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims.

A social networking system, such as a social networking website, enablesits users to interact with it, and with each other through, the system.Typically, to become a registered user of a social networking system, anentity, either human or non-human, registers for an account with thesocial networking system. Thereafter, the registered user may log intothe social networking system via an account by providing, for example, acorrect login ID or username and password. As used herein, a “user” maybe an individual (human user), an entity (e.g., an enterprise, business,or third party application), or a group (e.g., of individuals orentities) that interacts or communicates with or over such a socialnetwork environment.

When a user registers for an account with a social networking system,the social networking system may create and store a record, oftenreferred to as a “user profile”, in connection with the user. The userprofile may include information provided by the user and informationgathered by various systems, including the social networking system,relating to activities or actions of the user. For example, the user mayprovide his name, profile picture, contact information, birth date,gender, marital status, family status, employment, education background,preferences, interests, and other demographical information to beincluded in his user profile. The user may identify other users of thesocial networking system that the user considers to be his friends. Alist of the user's friends or first degree contacts may be included inthe user's profile. Connections in social networking systems may be inboth directions or may be in just one direction. For example, if Bob andJoe are both users and connect with each another, Bob and Joe are eachconnections of the other. If, on the other hand, Bob wishes to connectto Sam to view Sam's posted content items, but Sam does not choose toconnect to Bob, a one-way connection may be formed where Sam is Bob'sconnection, but Bob is not Sam's connection. Some embodiments of asocial networking system allow the connection to be indirect via one ormore levels of connections (e.g., friends of friends). Connections maybe added explicitly by a user, for example, the user selecting aparticular other user to be a friend, or automatically created by thesocial networking system based on common characteristics of the users(e.g., users who are alumni of the same educational institution). Theuser may identify or bookmark websites or web pages he visits frequentlyand these websites or web pages may be included in the user's profile.

The user may provide information relating to various aspects of the user(such as contact information and interests) at the time the userregisters for an account or at a later time. The user may also updatehis or her profile information at any time. For example, when the usermoves, or changes a phone number, he may update his contact information.Additionally, the user's interests may change as time passes, and theuser may update his interests in his profile from time to time. A user'sactivities on the social networking system, such as frequency ofaccessing particular information on the system, may also provideinformation that may be included in the user's profile. Again, suchinformation may be updated from time to time to reflect the user'smost-recent activities. Still further, other users or so-called friendsor contacts of the user may also perform activities that affect or causeupdates to a user's profile. For example, a contact may add the user asa friend (or remove the user as a friend). A contact may also writemessages to the user's profile pages—typically known as wall-posts. Auser may also input status messages that get posted to the user'sprofile page.

A social network system may maintain social graph information, which cangenerally model the relationships among groups of individuals, and mayinclude relationships ranging from casual acquaintances to closefamilial bonds. A social network may be represented using a graphstructure. Each node of the graph corresponds to a member of the socialnetwork. Edges connecting two nodes represent a relationship between twousers. In addition, the degree of separation between any two nodes isdefined as the minimum number of hops required to traverse the graphfrom one node to the other. A degree of separation between two users canbe considered a measure of relatedness between the two users representedby the nodes in the graph.

A social networking system may support a variety of applications, suchas photo sharing, on-line calendars and events. For example, the socialnetworking system may also include media sharing capabilities. Forexample, the social networking system may allow users to postphotographs and other multimedia files to a user's profile, such as in awall post or in a photo album, both of which may be accessible to otherusers of the social networking system. Social networking system may alsoallow users to configure events. For example, a first user may configurean event with attributes including time and date of the event, locationof the event and other users invited to the event. The invited users mayreceive invitations to the event and respond (such as by accepting theinvitation or declining it). Furthermore, social networking system mayallow users to maintain a personal calendar. Similarly to events, thecalendar entries may include times, dates, locations and identities ofother users.

The social networking system may also support a privacy model. A usermay or may not wish to share his information with other users orthird-party applications, or a user may wish to share his informationonly with specific users or third-party applications. A user may controlwhether his information is shared with other users or third-partyapplications through privacy settings associated with his user profile.For example, a user may select a privacy setting for each user datumassociated with the user and/or select settings that apply globally orto categories or types of user profile information. A privacy settingdefines, or identifies, the set of entities (e.g., other users,connections of the user, friends of friends, or third party application)that may have access to the user datum. The privacy setting may bespecified on various levels of granularity, such as by specifyingparticular entities in the social network (e.g., other users),predefined groups of the user's connections, a particular type ofconnections, all of the user's connections, all first-degree connectionsof the user's connections, the entire social network, or even the entireInternet (e.g., to make the posted content item index-able andsearchable on the Internet). A user may choose a default privacy settingfor all user data that is to be posted. Additionally, a user mayspecifically exclude certain entities from viewing a user datum or aparticular type of user data.

Social networking system may maintain a database of information relatingto geographic locations or places. Places may correspond to variousphysical locations, such as restaurants, bars, train stations, airportsand the like. Some places may correspond to larger regions thatthemselves contain places—such as a restaurant or a gate location in anairport. In one implementation, each place can be maintained as a hubnode in a social graph or other data structure maintained by the socialnetworking system, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/763,171, which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.Social networking system may allow users to access information regardingeach place using a client application (e.g., a browser) hosted by awired or wireless station, such as a laptop, desktop or mobile device.For example, social networking system may serve web pages (or otherstructured documents) to users that request information about a place.In addition to user profile and place information, the social networkingsystem may track or maintain other information about the user. Forexample, the social networking system may support geo-social networkingsystem functionality including one or more location-based services thatrecord the user's location. For example, users may access the geo-socialnetworking system using a special-purpose client application hosted by amobile device of the user (or a web- or network-based application usinga browser client). The client application may automatically accessGlobal Positioning System (GPS) or other geo-location functionssupported by the mobile device and report the user's current location tothe geo-social networking system. In addition, the client applicationmay support geo-social networking functionality that allows users tocheck-in at various locations and communicate this location to otherusers. A check-in to a given place may occur when a user is physicallylocated at a place and, using a mobile device, access the geo-socialnetworking system to register the user's presence at the place. A usermay select a place from a list of existing places near to the user'scurrent location or create a new place. The user may also providecomments in a text string when checking in to a given place. The usermay also identify one or more other users in connection with a check-in(such as friends of a user) and associate them with the check-in aswell. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/574,614, which is incorporatedby reference herein for all purposes, describes a system that allows afirst user to check-in other users at a given place. An entry includinga comment and a time stamp corresponding to the time the user checked inmay be displayed to other users. For example, a record of the user'scheck-in activity may be stored in a database. Social networking systemmay select one or more records associated with check-in activities ofusers at a given place and include such check-in activity in web pages(or other structured documents) that correspond to a given place. Forexample, social networking system may select the check-in activityassociated with the friends or other social contacts of a user thatrequests a page corresponding to a place. U.S. application Ser. No.12/858,718, incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes,describes an example geo-social networking system that can be used inconnection with various embodiments of the present invention. Thecheck-in activity may also be displayed on a user profile page and innews feeds provided to users of the social networking system.

In particular embodiments, the social networking system may provide asingle webpage that displays the recent activity of the user'sfirst-degree connections' actions on the social network. This type ofview, also called a “news feed,” allows a user of the social network toquickly view and access pertinent and temporally relevant informationabout his friends, interests, and pages the user has expressed anaffinity to. The news feed, in particular embodiments, also includesstory entries from the user's own actions on, and uploads to, the socialnetworking system (such as status updates, wall posts, photo uploads,check-ins to a geo-social networking system). In particular embodiments,the stories in the news feed are organized chronologically. Inparticular embodiments, the stories in the news feed are organized basedon a social relevancy score calculated by the social networking system.

In addition to geo-social functionality, the mobile device as describedabove may permit a user to remotely upload content, and perform otheractions on the social network over a mobile data network. In particularembodiments, the user may, through his or her mobile device, uploadphotographs to the social networking system. However, where largenumbers of users are in the same geographic region, a high degree ofupstream traffic from those users to the social networking system mayoverload the wireless data network or networks servicing the geographicregion, resulting in socket timeouts, failed uploads, and otherconnection issues that reduce system responsiveness. In particularembodiments, the social networking system may identify geographic areaswhere the wireless data connection is overloaded, and transmit aninstruction to the clients in the geographic area to throttle theirupstream communications with the social networking service to preventfurther overloading the wireless data network.

In particular embodiments, the throttling system generates a real-timenewsfeed from assets local to the client to give the user the impressionof responsiveness. U.S. patent application Ser. No. [reference 0308application, “client side news feed view”], which is incorporated byreference herein for all purposes, describes a system that renders alocal newsfeed from client-side assets and permits an uploading user tointeract with the uploaded content even prior to its upload to thesocial networking system.

In particular embodiments, content updates from throttled users isplaced into a priority queue, with smaller sized content having higherpriority. In particular embodiments, content is scored via socialfactors, so that content that is the most socially interesting orrelevant is assigned a higher priority. In particular embodiments, thethrottling instructions have various modes of throttling.

Still further, the social networking system may log certain geographicregions and times where overloading of the wireless data network islikely to occur. For example, based off a log of historical overloadingof the wireless data network in particular geographic regions, thesocial networking system can form an estimate of the wireless datacapacity of the geographic region. In particular embodiments, the socialnetworking system may then preemptively instruct clients in thegeographic area to throttle their upstream communications before anetwork overload occurs. In particular embodiments, the socialnetworking system may augment its database of wireless network capacitywith external database, such as event databases or sporting eventschedules.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example social networking system. In particularembodiments, the social networking system may store user profile dataand social graph information in user profile database 101. In particularembodiments, the social networking system may store user event data inevent database 102. For example, a user may register a new event byaccessing a client application to define an event name, a time and alocation, and cause the newly created event to be stored in eventdatabase 102. In particular embodiments, the social networking systemmay store user privacy policy data in privacy policy database 103. Inparticular embodiments, the social networking system may storegeographic and location data in location database 104. In particularembodiments, databases 101, 102, 103, and 104 may be operably connectedto the social networking system's front end. In particular embodiments,the front end 120 may interact with client device 122 through networkcloud 121. Client device 122 is generally a computer or computing deviceincluding functionality for communicating (e.g., remotely) over acomputer network. Client device 122 may be a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, personal digital assistant (PDA), in- or out-of-car navigationsystem, smart phone or other cellular or mobile phone, or mobile gamingdevice, among other suitable computing devices. Client device 122 mayexecute one or more client applications, such as a web browser (e.g.,Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari,Google Chrome, and Opera, etc.) or special-purpose client application(e.g., Facebook for iPhone, etc.), to access and view content over acomputer network. Front end 120 may include web or HTTP serverfunctionality, as well as other functionality, to allow users to accessthe social networking system. Front end 120 may also include a newsfeedgenerator that generates news feeds in response to user requests. Inparticular embodiments, news feed generator resides on one or moreservers separate from front end 120. Network cloud 121 generallyrepresents a network or collection of networks (such as the Internet ora corporate intranet, or a combination of both) over which clientdevices 122 may access the social network system.

In particular embodiments, location database 104 may store aninformation base of places, where each place includes a name, ageographic location and meta information (such as the user thatinitially created the place, reviews, comments, check-in activity data,and the like). Places may be created by administrators of the systemand/or created by users of the system. For example, a user may registera new place by accessing a client application to define a place name andprovide a geographic location and cause the newly created place to beregistered in location database 104. As discussed above, a created placemay correspond to a hub node, which an administrator can claim forpurposes of augmenting the information about the place and for creatingads or other offers to be delivered to users. In particular embodiments,system front end 120 may construct and serve a web page of a place, asrequested by a user. In some embodiments, a web page of a place mayinclude selectable components for a user to “like” the place, check into the place, upload photos related to the place (in connection with acheck-in or at a later time). In particular embodiments, locationdatabase 104 may store geo-location data identifying a real-worldgeographic location of a user associated with a check-in. For example, ageographic location of an Internet connected computer can be identifiedby the computer's IP address. For example, a geographic location of acell phone equipped with cellular, Wi-Fi and/or GPS capabilities can beidentified by cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi positioning, and/or GPSpositioning. In particular embodiments, location database 104 may storea geographic location and additional information of a plurality ofplaces.

In particular embodiments, users may utilize client device 122 to uploadcontent or perform actions on the social network, such as statusupdates, wall posts, check-ins, and the like. In particular embodiments,the client device itself may decide to queue one or more of theactivities for upload at a later time in order to, for example, conservebattery life. However, in particular cases where a large number ofclients serviced by the same carrier cellular tower are simultaneouslyattempting content uploads to the social network, the carrier's wirelesscellular network may become overloaded. For example, in Universal MobileTelecommunications Systems (UMTS) a particular Node B may only support alimited number, such as 1000, PDP contexts (IP addresses). Because eachapplication requiring an IP address on a mobile device requires its ownPDP context, in a crowded environment, such as a baseball game or publicevent, a single Node B may become overloaded fairly quickly. As aresult, users' socket connections to the social networking system maytime out, thereby causing their uploads or downloads of data to fail,and undermine the overall responsiveness and user experience.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system architecture for ameliorating thisoverloaded network issue. Mobile devices 122 communicate with socialnetworking platform 200. In particular embodiments, system front end 120from FIG. 1 may include both social networking platform 200 as well asnotification system 203. In particular embodiments, notification system203 only handles downstream communications from the social networkingsystem to mobile devices 122. In particular embodiments, notificationsystem 203 utilizes push notifications. In particular embodiments,notification system 203 utilizes short message service (SMS) channels totransmit push notifications to mobile devices 122. In particularembodiments, notification system 203 utilizes TCP/IP or VPN tunnels topush notifications to mobile devices 122. In particular embodiments,notification system 203 is hosted by a third party, such as a GoogleAndroid push server or a Java push server, that integrates via anapplication programming interface (API) to a social networking softwareclient that resides on mobile device 122. This disclosure contemplatesany suitable manner of implementing notification system 203.

Platform 200 communicates location information from mobile device 122 toGPS region tracker 201. In particular embodiments, mobile device 122periodically transmits location data to platform 200. In particularembodiments, mobile device 122 transmits its location to platform 200every time it initiates a communication with platform 200. In particularembodiments, mobile device 122 calculates its location from a built-inGPS receiver. In particular embodiments, mobile device 122 calculatesits location through time-distance of arrival (TDoA) or othertriangulation techniques. In particular embodiments, users of mobiledevice 122 transmit explicit location identifiers to platform 200 in theform of check-ins, comments, status messages, reviews, and the like. Insuch embodiments, platform 200 may access location database 104 toobtain the exact geographic coordinates of the location specified by auser check-in. In particular embodiments, platform 200 utilizes audiowaveform matching to ascertain that a particular user is near anotheruser having a known location. In particular embodiments, the location ofmobile device 122 may be ascertained from the EXIF data in an uploadedimage. This disclosure contemplates any suitable manner of determiningthe geographic region of a mobile device 122.

Upon obtaining the location of a particular mobile device 122, GPSregion tracker 201 may place mobile device 122 into a particular region,such as regions 202A-202C. In particular embodiments, each regioncorresponds to a single cell tower (Node B, base transceiver station(BTS), or the like) for a single carrier. In particular embodiments,each region 202A-202C corresponds to multiple cellular towers in aparticular area. In particular embodiments, GPS region tracker 201comprises a plurality of distributed servers. In embodiments where eachregion 202A-202C is carrier specific, platform 200 may also obtain thecarrier from mobile device 122. In particular embodiments, the carrierproviding service to mobile device 122 may be discovered using a reverseIP address lookup. In particular embodiments, the carrier is discoveredthrough the SIM, NSAPI, IMEI, or IMSI of mobile device 122. Thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable method of determining the carrierof a particular mobile device 122.

In particular embodiments, GPS region tracker 201 maintains a historicallog of users (through their mobile devices 122) movements, theirwireless data carrier, and connection events as they move from region toregion. In particular embodiments, wireless connection events comprise:a socket timeout, a server timeout, a failed upload, a failed download,and the like. In particular embodiments, GPS region tracker 201 alsorecords the round trip “ping” time for each user. This disclosurecontemplates logging any suitable set of connection events to estimatewireless data network capacity. Thus, as will be further described withreference to FIG. 3, GPS region tracker 201 knows, at any given time,whether a particular geographic region is overloaded due to excessiveconnections to the social networking system.

Furthermore, as will be further described with respect to FIG. 4, GPSregion tracker 201 may estimate the overall cellular tower data capacityfor a given geographic region. In particular embodiments, GPS regiontracker 201 may estimate the overall cellular tower capacity for a givengeographic region for a specific carrier. Combined with the historicallog of all the cell tower overloading events, GPS region tracker 201 mayestimate the overall cellular tower capacity for a given geographicregion, carrier, and time. In particular embodiments, GPS region tracker201 may correlate the times of insufficient capacity to an eventdatabase to enhance its predictive ability regarding cellular data linkcapacity. For example, if GPS region tracker 201 detects insufficientdata network events at an AT&T Node B serving AT&T park every time thereis a San Francisco Giants game, GPS region tracker 201 may automaticallyinstitute a bandwidth throttling mode for any mobile device 122 servedby that Node B from the hour prior to, to the hour after, any SF Giantsgames.

In particular embodiments, GPS region tracker 201 issues the throttlingcommand directly to notification system 203, which in turn pushes theinstruction via a push notification to mobile device 122. In particularembodiments, GPS region tracker merely identifies mobile devices thatare in “problem regions” to platform 200, and platform issues thethrottling command to mobile device 122. In particular embodiments,Platform 200 issues the throttling instruction via notification system203. This disclosure contemplates any suitable manner of generating anddelivering a throttling instruction to mobile device 122.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method for detecting overloaded cellulardata networks. At Step 301, GPS region tracker 201 monitors all theconnections for mobile devices 122 in its assigned region or regions. Aspreviously disclosed, GPS region tracker 201 may be responsible formonitoring a particular geographic region comprising a single cell sitefrom a single carrier on the granular end, or at the other extreme, ageographic area covering multiple cellular sites for a plurality ofcarriers. While this disclosure primarily discloses, as an example,monitoring cellular wireless data network towers, this disclosure alsocontemplates other types of wireless networks as geographic regions, forexample, all the users connected to a particular WiMAX network. Inparticular embodiments, GPS region trackers 201 may even monitor thecongestion level of standard WiFi networks. This disclosure contemplatesany suitable number of GPS region trackers 201 of any suitablegranularity.

At Step 301, GPS region tracker 201 monitors the average number ofconnection problems experienced by clients in one or more regions. Forexample, if a particular GPS region tracker 201 is responsible formonitoring all AT&T and Verizon connections for two particular cellulartowers, GPS region tracker monitors mobile devices 122 being serviced bythe two cell towers in two “buckets”, one for Verizon, and one for AT&T.In particular embodiments, GPS region trackers 201 maintain a movingaverage of the number of connection problems per user for the “bucket”in question. In particular embodiments, GPS region trackers 201 use asliding window of a predetermined amount of time, for example, thenumber of connection problems per user in each “bucket” in a 20 minutewindow. Thus, a particular GPS region tracker 201 may maintain multiplemoving averages for each region, cell tower, or the like that it isresponsible for monitoring.

If the moving average for any one monitored region exceeds apredetermined threshold, such as 10% of all connections experiencingerrors, GPS region tracker 201 at Step 303 assesses the severity of theconnection problem. In particular embodiments, GPS region tracker 201assesses the severity of congestion via one or more thresholds of themoving average. For example, if the moving average exceeds 20% of allusers in region experiencing connection problems, GPS region tracker 201may determine that the congestion is “severe.” In particularembodiments, GPS region tracker 201 uses the type and number ofcongestion problems to assess the congestion severity. In particularembodiments, GPS region tracker 201 utilizes the round-trip “ping” timeto assess congestion. This disclosure contemplates any suitable methodof evaluating congestion severity of an overloaded wireless datanetwork.

At Step 305, based on the assessed severity of the overloaded geographicregion, GPS tracker 201 transmits an instruction to all clients in theaffected geographic region to enter a reduced bandwidth mode andselectively throttle their own upstream traffic. In particularembodiments, GPS region tracker 201 transmits instructions for threelevels of throttling. For example, if the detected congestion is low,GPS region tracker 201 may transmit a message to all affected clients toenter a reduced bandwidth mode only permitting the upload oflow-resolution images. As another example, if the detected congestion ismoderate, GPS region tracker 201 may issue a command to the affectedmobile devices 122 to transmit only text-based content, such ascheck-ins, status messages, and comments. At the extreme end, if GPSregion tracker 201 detects a high level of congestion, it may issue acommand to the client devices in the region to cease all transmissionsto the social networking system until further instructed. In particularembodiments, each of the reduced-bandwidth modes lasts a predeterminedamount of time. In particular embodiments, each of the reduced bandwidthmodes persists until an “all-clear” message is transmitted to the clientdevices, instructing them to revert to normal transmission.

While mobile devices are in the reduced bandwidth mode, their uploads tothe social network may be further throttled by the social networkingsystem. For example, in the “high” congestion mode, the socialnetworking system may institute a round-robin upload queue, where eachmobile device 122 is given a “clear to send” notification when it is themobile device 122's turn to transmit content to the social networkingsystem. In particular embodiments, the social networking applicationsrunning on mobile device 122 throttles traffic by selectively queuinguploads based on size. For example, information that is text only isqueued before images. In particular embodiments, the client applicationapplies a queuing algorithm that attempts to maximize the socialrelevance to size ratio. For example, check-ins offer a significantamount of information (where a user is, what he or she is doing, andpossibly, if there are other users tagged, who the user is with) in avery small amount of data. Thus, check ins would be prioritized overstatus messages, comments, and photos. By the same rationale, check-inswith other users tagged would provide greater socially relevantinformation than a standard check in, and would be placed ahead in thequeue. In particular embodiments, the queuing algorithm also applies tophotos; a photo with multiple users tagged contains more sociallyrelevant information than a photo with few or any tags. In anotherembodiment, photos with captions are given priority over photos lackingcaptions. In this manner, the client application residing on mobiledevice 122 briefly analyzes the content to be uploaded, and prioritizesthe content with the highest social relevance to data size ratio fortransmission to the social networking system.

At Step 306, GPS region tracker 201 updates a historical log of thecongestion issue for the particular region. In particular embodiments,the historical log includes the date/time of the congestion, the numberof users in the geographic region, the severity of the congestion, andthe average round-trip “ping” time for users experiencing the congestionevent. This historical database of overloaded wireless networks may beutilized to preemptively throttle traffic prior to actual congestion. Inparticular embodiments, the historical log may be analyzed against priorcongestion events or external event databases, such as the home gameschedule for the Golden State Warriors. This disclosure contemplates anysuitable manner of generating and analyzing the historical congestionlog.

In particular embodiments, the historical congestion log may be utilizedto estimate the capacity of the wireless network serving the region. Forexample, the social networking system may determine, from the amount ofcongestion in the region and the number of users in the region, a roughestimate of the capacity of the wireless network. In particularembodiments, where GPS region tracker 201 is aware of which cellulartower the users are connected to, the number of server requests fromusers connected to a particular cell tower, together and the amount ofcongestion can yield a fairly accurate estimate of the wireless networkcapacity for the cell tower.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method of preemptively transmitting an instructionto enter a low-bandwidth mode to clients before network overloadingoccurs. The process of FIG. 4 can be run simultaneously with the processof FIG. 3; wherein the process of FIG. 3 detects new overloaded wirelessnetworks and builds the historical log, while the process of FIG. 4preemptively throttles client uploads in order to avoid causingcongestion.

At Step 401, GPS region trackers 201 monitor their assigned region orregions. as previously stated, a region may comprise multiple cells formultiple carriers, a single cellular tower for a specific carrier, or aparticular Wi-Fi network or coverage area. In particular embodiments,the social networking system may track both the location of its users,via GPS or other location information, as well as the wireless networkfrom which the user is accessing the social networking system. Inparticular embodiments, GPS region tracker 201 uses a reverse IP addresslookup to determine what carrier or WiFi access point the user device122 is connected to.

GPS region tracker 201 monitors the number of users entering aparticular region. At Step 402, it compares the number of users in aparticular region to its estimate of the wireless network capacity forthe particular region. In particular embodiments, if the number of usersexceeds the estimated capacity of the region, GPS region tracker 201transmits instructions to the clients in that particular region to beginthrottling their own traffic. In particular embodiments, GPS regiontracker 201 assumes every user in the region will not only connect tothe wireless data network serving the region, but will upload apredetermined amount of data. In particular embodiments, thepredetermined amount of data is a 1-megapixel photo. In particularembodiments, GPS region tracker 201 assumes only ½ of the users in theregion will connect to the wireless data network and upload thepredetermined amount of data. This disclosure contemplates any suitablemethod or algorithm for estimating the demand on the wireless datanetwork for the number of user devices 122 in the region.

Regardless of the method of estimating demand and the method ofestimating capacity, at Step 403, the social networking system transmitsone or more instructions to the clients in the particular region tobegin throttling their traffic. In particular embodiments, thepreemptive low-bandwidth mode throttles traffic to the “low” congestionmode as described above. However, in particular embodiments, anestimated amount of congestion may be calculated from the differencebetween the estimated demand and estimated capacity.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example computer system 500, which may be usedwith some embodiments of the present invention. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable number of computer systems 500. Thisdisclosure contemplates computer system 500 taking any suitable physicalform. As example and not by way of limitation, computer system 500 maybe an embedded computer system, a system-on-chip (SOC), a single-boardcomputer system (SBC) (such as, for example, a computer-on-module (COM)or system-on-module (SOM)), a desktop computer system, a laptop ornotebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, a mainframe, a mesh ofcomputer systems, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a server, or a combination of two or more of these. Whereappropriate, computer system 500 may include one or more computersystems 500; be unitary or distributed; span multiple locations; spanmultiple machines; or reside in a cloud, which may include one or morecloud components in one or more networks. Where appropriate, one or morecomputer systems 500 may perform without substantial spatial or temporallimitation one or more steps of one or more methods described orillustrated herein. As an example and not by way of limitation, one ormore computer systems 500 may perform in real time or in batch mode oneor more steps of one or more methods described or illustrated herein.One or more computer systems 500 may perform at different times or atdifferent locations one or more steps of one or more methods describedor illustrated herein, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, computer system 500 includes a processor 502,memory 504, storage 506, an input/output (I/O) interface 508, acommunication interface 510, and a bus 512. Although this disclosuredescribes and illustrates a particular computer system having aparticular number of particular components in a particular arrangement,this disclosure contemplates any suitable computer system having anysuitable number of any suitable components in any suitable arrangement.

In particular embodiments, processor 502 includes hardware for executinginstructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, processor 502 mayretrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, aninternal cache, memory 504, or storage 506; decode and execute them; andthen write one or more results to an internal register, an internalcache, memory 504, or storage 506. In particular embodiments, processor502 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, oraddresses. The present disclosure contemplates processor 502 includingany suitable number of any suitable internal caches, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particularprocessor, this disclosure contemplates any suitable processor.

In particular embodiments, memory 504 includes main memory for storinginstructions for processor 502 to execute or data for processor 502 tooperate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system500 may load instructions from storage 506 or another source (such as,for example, another computer system 500) to memory 504. Processor 502may then load the instructions from memory 504 to an internal registeror internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 502 mayretrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cacheand decode them. In particular embodiments, one or more memorymanagement units (MMUs) reside between processor 502 and memory 504 andfacilitate accesses to memory 504 requested by processor 502. Inparticular embodiments, memory 504 includes random access memory (RAM).Memory 504 may include one or more memories 502, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particular memory,this disclosure contemplates any suitable memory.

In particular embodiments, storage 506 includes mass storage for data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 506may include an HDD, a floppy disk drive, flash memory, an optical disc,a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB)drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage 506 may includeremovable or non-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. Storage506 may be internal or external to computer system 500, whereappropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 506 is non-volatile,solid-state memory. This disclosure contemplates mass storage 506 takingany suitable physical form. Storage 506 may include one or more storagecontrol units facilitating communication between processor 502 andstorage 506, where appropriate. Where appropriate, storage 506 mayinclude one or more storages 506. Although this disclosure describes andillustrates particular storage, this disclosure contemplates anysuitable storage.

In particular embodiments, I/O interface 508 includes hardware,software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communicationbetween computer system 500 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system500 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. Oneor more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a personand computer system 500. An I/O device may include one or more sensors.This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitableI/O interfaces 508 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 508 mayinclude one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 502 todrive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 508 may includeone or more I/O interfaces 508, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.

In particular embodiments, communication interface 510 includeshardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces forcommunication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) betweencomputer system 500 and one or more other computer systems 500 or one ormore networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communicationinterface 510 may include a network interface controller (NIC) ornetwork adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-basednetwork or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicatingwith a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network and any suitable communicationinterface 510 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation,computer system 500 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personalarea network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of theInternet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portionsof one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As anexample, computer system 500 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN)(such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network (such as, forexample, a 802.11a/b/g/n WI-FI network, a 802.11s mesh network), aWI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, aGlobal System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, an Enhanced DataRates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network, a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE)network), or other suitable wireless network or a combination of two ormore of these. Computer system 500 may include any suitablecommunication interface 510 for any of these networks, whereappropriate. Communication interface 510 may include one or morecommunication interfaces 510, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular communicationinterface, this disclosure contemplates any suitable communicationinterface.

In particular embodiments, bus 512 includes hardware, software, or bothcoupling components of computer system 500 to each other. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, bus 512 may include an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT)interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBANDinterconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, aPCI-Express (PCI-X) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, aUniversal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) interface, aInter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)bus, a Secure Degital (SD) memory interface, a MultiMediaCard (MMC)memory interface, a Memory Stick (MS) memory interface, a Secure DigitalInput Output (SDIO) interface, a Multi-channel Buffered Serial Port(McBSP) bus, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) bus, a General Purpose MemoryController (GPMC) bus, a SDRAM Controller (SDRC) bus, a General PurposeInput/Output (GPIO) bus, a Separate Video (S-Video) bus, a DisplaySerial Interface (DSI) bus, a Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture(AMBA) bus, or another suitable bus or a combination of two or more ofthese. Bus 512 may include one or more buses 512, where appropriate.Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particular bus,this disclosure contemplates any suitable bus or interconnect.

The client-side functionality described above can be implemented as aseries of instructions stored on a computer-readable storage mediumthat, when executed, cause a programmable processor to implement theoperations described above. While the client device 122 may beimplemented in a variety of different hardware and computing systems,FIG. 6 shows a schematic representation of the main components of anexample computing platform of a client or mobile device, according tovarious particular embodiments. In particular embodiments, computingplatform 602 may comprise controller 604, memory 606, and input outputsubsystem 610. In particular embodiments, controller 604 which maycomprise one or more processors and/or one or more microcontrollersconfigured to execute instructions and to carry out operationsassociated with a computing platform. In various embodiments, controller604 may be implemented as a single-chip, multiple chips and/or otherelectrical components including one or more integrated circuits andprinted circuit boards. Controller 604 may optionally contain a cachememory unit for temporary local storage of instructions, data, orcomputer addresses. By way of example, using instructions retrieved frommemory, controller 604 may control the reception and manipulation ofinput and output data between components of computing platform 602. Byway of example, controller 604 may include one or more processors or oneor more controllers dedicated for certain processing tasks of computingplatform 602, for example, for 2D/3D graphics processing, imageprocessing, or video processing.

Controller 604 together with a suitable operating system may operate toexecute instructions in the form of computer code and produce and usedata. By way of example and not by way of limitation, the operatingsystem may be Windows-based, Mac-based, or Unix or Linux-based, orSymbian-based, among other suitable operating systems. The operatingsystem, other computer code and/or data may be physically stored withinmemory 606 that is operatively coupled to controller 604.

Memory 606 may encompass one or more storage media and generally providea place to store computer code (e.g., software and/or firmware) and datathat are used by computing platform 602. By way of example, memory 606may include various tangible computer-readable storage media includingRead-Only Memory (ROM) and/or Random-Access Memory (RAM). As is wellknown in the art, ROM acts to transfer data and instructionsuni-directionally to controller 604, and RAM is used typically totransfer data and instructions in a bi-directional manner. Memory 606may also include one or more fixed storage devices in the form of, byway of example, hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs),flash-memory cards (e.g., Secured Digital or SD cards, embeddedMultiMediaCard or eMMD cards), among other suitable forms of memorycoupled bi-directionally to controller 604. Information may also resideon one or more removable storage media loaded into or installed incomputing platform 602 when needed. By way of example, any of a numberof suitable memory cards (e.g., SD cards) may be loaded into computingplatform 602 on a temporary or permanent basis.

Input output subsystem 610 may comprise one or more input and outputdevices operably connected to controller 604. For example, input outputsubsystem may include keyboard, mouse, one or more buttons, thumb wheel,and/or, display (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), light emittingdiode (LED), Interferometric modulator display (IMOD), or any othersuitable display technology). Generally, input devices are configured totransfer data, commands and responses from the outside world intocomputing platform 602. The display is generally configured to display agraphical user interface (GUI) that provides an easy to use visualinterface between a user of the computing platform 602 and the operatingsystem or application(s) running on the mobile device. Generally, theGUI presents programs, files and operational options with graphicalimages. During operation, the user may select and activate variousgraphical images displayed on the display in order to initiate functionsand tasks associated therewith. Input output subsystem 610 may alsoinclude touch based devices such as touch pad and touch screen. Atouchpad is an input device including a surface that detects touch-basedinputs of users. Similarly, a touch screen is a display that detects thepresence and location of user touch inputs. Input output system 610 mayalso include dual touch or multi-touch displays or touch pads that canidentify the presence, location and movement of more than one touchinputs, such as two or three finger touches.

In particular embodiments, computing platform 602 may additionallycomprise audio subsystem 612, camera subsystem 612, wirelesscommunication subsystem 616, sensor subsystems 618, and/or wiredcommunication subsystem 620, operably connected to controller 604 tofacilitate various functions of computing platform 602. For example,Audio subsystem 612, including a speaker, a microphone, and a codecmodule configured to process audio signals, can be utilized tofacilitate voice-enabled functions, such as voice recognition, voicereplication, digital recording, and telephony functions. For example,camera subsystem 612, including an optical sensor (e.g., a chargedcoupled device (CCD), or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor(CMOS) image sensor), can be utilized to facilitate camera functions,such as recording photographs and video clips. For example, wiredcommunication subsystem 620 can include a Universal Serial Bus (USB)port for file transferring, or a Ethernet port for connection to a localarea network (LAN).

Wireless communication subsystem 616 can be designed to operate over oneor more wireless networks, for example, a wireless PAN (WPAN) (such as,for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN, an infrared PAN), a WI-FI network (suchas, for example, an 802.11a/b/g/n WI-FI network, an 802.11s meshnetwork), a WI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, forexample, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, anEnhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network, a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) network, and/or a Long Term Evolution(LTE) network). Additionally, wireless communication subsystem 616 mayinclude hosting protocols such that computing platform 602 may beconfigured as a base station for other wireless devices.

Sensor subsystem 618 may include one or more sensor devices to provideadditional input and facilitate multiple functionalities of computingplatform 602. For example, sensor subsystems 618 may include GPS sensorfor location positioning, altimeter for altitude positioning, motionsensor for determining orientation of a mobile device, light sensor forphotographing function with camera subsystem 614, temperature sensor formeasuring ambient temperature, and/or biometric sensor for securityapplication (e.g., fingerprint reader).

In particular embodiments, various components of computing platform 602may be operably connected together by one or more buses (includinghardware and/or software). As an example and not by way of limitation,the one or more buses may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) orother graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, anIndustry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBAND interconnect, alow-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro Channel Architecture(MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI-Express(PCI-X) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a VideoElectronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, a UniversalAsynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) interface, a Inter-IntegratedCircuit (I2C) bus, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus, a SecureDegital (SD) memory interface, a MultiMediaCard (MMC) memory interface,a Memory Stick (MS) memory interface, a Secure Digital Input Output(SDIO) interface, a Multi-channel Buffered Serial Port (McBSP) bus, aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) bus, a General Purpose Memory Controller(GPMC) bus, a SDRAM Controller (SDRC) bus, a General PurposeInput/Output (GPIO) bus, a Separate Video (S-Video) bus, a DisplaySerial Interface (DSI) bus, an Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture(AMBA) bus, or another suitable bus or a combination of two or more ofthese.

Additionally, computing platform 602 may be powered by power source 632.

Herein, reference to a computer-readable storage medium encompasses oneor more non-transitory, tangible computer-readable storage mediapossessing structure. As an example and not by way of limitation, acomputer-readable storage medium may include a semiconductor-based orother integrated circuit (IC) (such, as for example, afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific IC(ASIC)), a hard disk, an HDD, a hybrid hard drive (HHD), an opticaldisc, an optical disc drive (ODD), a magneto-optical disc, amagneto-optical drive, a floppy disk, a floppy disk drive (FDD),magnetic tape, a holographic storage medium, a solid-state drive (SSD),a RAM-drive, a SECURE DIGITAL card, a SECURE DIGITAL drive, aMultiMediaCard (MMC) card, an embedded MMC (eMMC) card, or anothersuitable computer-readable storage medium or a combination of two ormore of these, where appropriate. Herein, reference to acomputer-readable storage medium excludes any medium that is noteligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Herein, referenceto a computer-readable storage medium excludes transitory forms ofsignal transmission (such as a propagating electrical or electromagneticsignal per se) to the extent that they are not eligible for patentprotection under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

This disclosure contemplates one or more computer-readable storage mediaimplementing any suitable storage. In particular embodiments, acomputer-readable storage medium implements one or more portions ofprocessor 602 (such as, for example, one or more internal registers orcaches), one or more portions of memory 604, one or more portions ofstorage 606, or a combination of these, where appropriate. In particularembodiments, a computer-readable storage medium implements RAM or ROM.In particular embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium implementsvolatile or persistent memory. In particular embodiments, one or morecomputer-readable storage media embody software. Herein, reference tosoftware may encompass one or more applications, bytecode, one or morecomputer programs, one or more executables, one or more instructions,logic, machine code, one or more scripts, or source code, and viceversa, where appropriate. In particular embodiments, software includesone or more application programming interfaces (APIs). This disclosurecontemplates any suitable software written or otherwise expressed in anysuitable programming language or combination of programming languages.In particular embodiments, software is expressed as source code orobject code. In particular embodiments, software is expressed in ahigher-level programming language, such as, for example, C, Perl,JavaScript, or a suitable extension thereof. In particular embodiments,software is expressed in a lower-level programming language, such asassembly language (or machine code). In particular embodiments, softwareis expressed in JAVA. In particular embodiments, software is expressedin Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML),or other suitable markup language.

The present disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodimentsherein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend.Similarly, where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the exampleembodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art wouldcomprehend.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising, by one or more computingsystems: monitoring connections of a plurality of clients, the pluralityof clients physically located in one or more geographic regions;determining that one or more of the clients have experienced connectionproblems in a particular one of the geographic regions; and maintaininga historical log of information related to the connections, thehistorical log comprising the connection problems; estimating, based onthe historical log, capacity of a wireless network associated with theparticular one of the geographic regions; and in response to adetermination that a number of clients in the particular one of thegeographic regions exceeds the estimated capacity of the wirelessnetwork, sending an instruction for the one or more clients to enter anupload queue which prioritizes uploading content with a greater ratio ofsocial relevance to data size of the content from the plurality ofclients, wherein the social relevance is calculated by a socialnetworking system analyzing social graph information, the social graphinformation modeling the relationships between a plurality of usersassociated with the plurality of clients.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the connection problems comprise: a failed content upload, afailed content download, a socket timeout, or a server timeout.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the historical log further comprises: roundtrip ping time for each of the connections, an identification of awireless data carrier associated with each of the connections, thenumber of users in the geographic region, date/time of a particularconnection problem, or severity of a particular connection problem. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the estimating capacity of a wirelessnetwork further comprises: correlating the historical log against anevent database, an event schedule, or prior congestion events.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the capacity of the wireless network isestimated for a given geographic region, wireless data carrier, cellulartower, or time.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a geographic region based on GPS data transmitted from eachof the clients or based on explicit location identifiers transmittedfrom each client.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the explicitlocation identifiers comprise: a check-in, an RSVP to an event, or EXIFdata appended to an uploaded image.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinthe determining whether clients in the particular geographic region areexperiencing connection problems further comprises: assessing severityof one of the connection problems based on one or more thresholdsrelated to a moving average of the connection problems; wherein theinstruction also includes a severity indicator.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the moving average is based at least on the number ofconnection problems in a predetermined time duration for the geographicarea.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein a low severity indicator isoperable to instruct a client device receiving the instruction to uploadonly low resolution content.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein a mediumseverity indicator is operable to instruct a client device receiving theinstruction to upload only text content.
 12. The method of claim 8,wherein a high severity indicator is operable to instruct a clientdevice receiving the instruction to halt all uploads until furtherinstructed.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: calculating aconnection capacity for the determined geographic area; and storing theconnection capacity in a historical database.
 14. One or morecomputer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying softwarecomprising instructions operable when executed to: monitor connectionsof a plurality of clients, the plurality of clients physically locatedin one or more geographic regions; determine that one or more of theclients have experienced connection problems in a particular one of thegeographic regions; and maintain a historical log of information relatedto the connections, the historical log comprising the connectionproblems; estimate, based on the historical log, capacity of a wirelessnetwork associated with the particular one of the geographic regions;and in response to a determination that a number of clients in theparticular one of the geographic regions exceeds the estimated capacityof the wireless network, send an instruction for the one or more clientsto enter an upload queue which prioritizes uploading content with agreater ratio of social relevance to data size of the content from theplurality of clients, wherein the social relevance is calculated by asocial networking system analyzing social graph information, the socialgraph information modeling the relationships between a plurality ofusers associated with the plurality of clients.
 15. The media of claim14, wherein the connection problems comprise: a failed content upload, afailed content download, a socket timeout, or a server timeout.
 16. Themedia of claim 14, wherein the historical log further comprises: roundtrip ping time for each of the connections, an identification of awireless data carrier associated with each of the connections, thenumber of users in the geographic region, date/time of a particularconnection problem, or severity of a particular connection problem. 17.The media of claim 14, wherein the instructions operable when executedto estimate capacity of a wireless network further comprisesinstructions operable when executed to: correlate the historical logagainst an event database, an event schedule, or prior congestionevents.
 18. A system comprising: one or more processors; and a memorycoupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by theprocessors, the processors being operable when executing theinstructions to: monitor connections of a plurality of clients, theplurality of clients physically located in one or more geographicregions; determine that one or more of the clients have experiencedconnection problems in a particular one of the geographic regions; andmaintain a historical log of information related to the connections, thehistorical log comprising the connection problems; estimate, based onthe historical log, capacity of a wireless network associated with theparticular one of the geographic regions; and in response to adetermination that a number of clients in the particular one of thegeographic regions exceeds the estimated capacity of the wirelessnetwork, send an instruction for the one or more clients to enter anupload queue which prioritizes uploading content with a greater ratio ofsocial relevance to data size of the content from the plurality ofclients, wherein the social relevance is calculated by a socialnetworking system analyzing social graph information, the social graphinformation modeling the relationships between a plurality of usersassociated with the plurality of clients.
 19. The system of claim 18,wherein the processors are further operable when executing theinstructions to: determine a geographic region based on GPS datatransmitted from each of the clients or based on explicit locationidentifiers transmitted from each client, wherein the explicit locationidentifiers comprise: a check-in, an RSVP to an event, or EXIF dataappended to an uploaded image.
 20. The system of claim 18, wherein theprocessors operable when executing the instructions to determine whetherclients in the particular geographic region are experiencing connectionproblems are further operable to: assess severity of one of theconnection problems based on one or more thresholds related to a movingaverage of the connection problems; wherein the instruction alsoincludes a severity indicator.